Chest · Cable
Cable Single Arm Bench Press
How to do the cable single arm bench press, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Cable
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Logged as
- Weighted reps
- Movement
- HorizontalPush
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Lie on a flat bench positioned beside a low cable pulley, gripping a single handle with the arm nearest the stack. Press the handle up and across until your arm is extended over your chest, then lower under control. Finish your reps before switching sides.
- 1Chest and triceps pressing the handle up and across your body
- 2Core braced to resist the cable pulling you sideways
- 3Chest squeeze as the arm reaches full extension
Common mistakes
- Rolling your torso toward the working side
- Letting your shoulder lift off the bench
- Letting the cable yank your arm back at the bottom
Muscles worked
The cable single arm bench press mainly works the mid chest, with the triceps, upper chest, lower chest, obliques, and front delts assisting.
- Mid ChestPrimary
- TricepsSupport
- Upper ChestSupport
- Lower ChestSupport
- ObliquesSupport
- Front DeltsSupport
- ForearmsMinor
- Upper AbsMinor
- Lower AbsMinor
Kovo programs the cable single arm bench press for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More chest exercises
- How to do the archer push-up
- How to do the assisted dip
- How to do the resistance band chest flyes
- How to do the resistance band push-up
- How to do the barbell bench press
- How to do the paused bench press
Last reviewed June 2026.